Illustrated Anatomy: First Edition

Those of you who have been following MAL for a while know that we lovesciencytattoos. Lots of people do, in fact — Carl Zimmer even compiled a bunch of them into a book. Sometimes, we even catch a glimpse of them on strangers. And what better way to approach a stranger than to say “Hi, I’m a contributor to this cool art and science blog. Can I take a picture of your tattoo?”

Which is what I did for our first-ever edition of a brand-new post series entitled Illustrated Anatomy.

This tattoo belongs to Elizabeth LaPorte of Chicago, who I met at an art-salon house party. That bone is the humerus, which just happens to be the actual bone over which it’s tattooed. Cool, huh?

Like this:

Ashley Hamer (aka Smashley) is a saxophonist and writer living in Chicago, where she performs regularly with the funk band FuzZz and jazz ensemble Big Band Boom. She also does standup comedy, sort of, sometimes. Her tenor saxophone's name is Ladybird.